Santee

Santee - East County News

SANTEE  A deputy suffered minor injuries Saturday night when a 41-year-old domestic violence suspect swerved his SUV and crashed into a patrol car in Santee, a sheriff’s official said. The crash happened about 7:45 p.m. on Mast Boulevard near Hartland Circle, west of Cuyamaca Street, Lt. James Bolwerk said. Deputies had been on the lookout for the man after he had reportedly committed felony domestic violence. His wife first called deputies about 10:40 a.m. after the two had gotten into a fight. He was gone before deputies arrived at the home, sheriff's Sgt. Tom Seiver said. She called again about 7:40 p.m. when her husband returned to the home and started banging on the door. The man was again gone when law enforcement arrived, but a deputy checking the area spotted him driving his Chevrolet Tahoe on Mast. The deputy flipped his lights and siren on to pull him over. Almost immediately, the suspect swerved into oncoming traffic — and collided head-on into a second sheriff’s patrol car heading down Mast, Bolwerk said. A stolen handgun was found in ...

Public school districts throughout San Diego County are demanding relief from soaring electricity rates that they estimate could cost them a combined $30 million more this year than last year and siphon money from critical student services just as the state’s recovering economy is funding education again. Officials from all 42 school districts in the county met with San Diego Gas & Electric Co. executives last week to vent their frustration and reiterate their plan ...

SANTEE  The Santee School District Foundation’s sixth annual Art Show and Auction is set for Thursday. This year’s theme is “A Celebration of San Diego” in which student art highlights people, places, and sights in San Diego County, including Santee. The event will be from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Church of Latter-day Saints, 10052 N. Magnolia Ave., in Santee. It will featuring a live auction of a variety of student pieces and ...

SANTEE  Santee is nearing the finish of its $25 million project that is revitalizing the industrial zone next to Gillespie Field, the county airport at the crossroads of El Cajon and Santee. The latest plan regarding the Prospect Avenue Corridor Enhancement is the construction that started this month near the airport. Workers are concentrating on a center median that will be landscaped and decorated with stamped concrete. Pedestrian walkway lights will also be installed ...

SANTEE  A firefighter and two citizens suffered minor burns Friday in a blaze that destroyed a Santee apartment, a fire official said. A first-floor unit in a two-story apartment building on Mission Gorge Road, near Cottonwood Avenue, was fully engulfed in flames about 1:40 p.m., said Santee fire Battalion Chief Brad Peterson. A good Samaritan went to the unit above to alert a woman and her granddaughter who were inside, Peterson said. The girl ...

SANTEE  The recycling center at the Sycamore Landfill, closed since September, has re-opened under new ownership. Eddie Quiroz, a 1996 Mission Bay High alumnus, opened Quiroz Recycling earlier this month at 8514 Mast Blvd. It had been called Universal Recycling, run by the Allan Co. Quiroz bought the plant late last year and officially opened Jan. 13. The Allan Co. still owns two other San Diego County recycling plants, both in San Diego city. ...

SANTEE  Sheriff’s deputies in Santee found a man sleeping in a stolen vehicle loaded with stolen goods and drugs Thursday, authorities said. A caller asked deputies to check on the man on Mariposa Street about 7:30 a.m. Deputies discovered that the vehicle had been stolen, Sgt. Daniel Morsch said. They woke up the 30-year-old man. When they searched the vehicle they found carpentry and power tools and other items from at least five residential ...

SANTEE  A man assaulted a woman walking in Santee and tried to take off her clothing early Sunday morning, a sheriff's official said. The woman left the Second Wind bar on Prospect Avenue and was walking near Pepper Driver about 12:45 a.m. when a man came up behind her and pushed her to the ground, sheriff's Det. Miles Ting said. Her attacker didn't say anything while he tried to strip clothing from her lower ...

SANTEE  The Marine Corps has been given the OK to conduct surveillance training in Santee. The City Council on Wednesday approved an agreement with the Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command that allows for Marines - without uniforms, insignia, weapons or other visible indications of military presence - to observe crowds and perform surveillance training in public and commercial locations in the city. "The Marines will do evasion training, simulate enemy lines or escape ...

SANTEE  The city of Santee is looking for public input on how to help individuals and families who are part of low- and moderate-income households in the city. The city is preparing a plan to prioritize use of Community Planning and Development grant money and is holding a workshop to plan for the years 2015-19. The workshop is set from 10:30 a.m. until noon on Monday, Jan. 12. It will be held at 10701 ...

EAST COUNTY  Free tax preparation for senior citizens and low-income earners in East County will be available starting Feb. 2 and running through April 15 from the AARP Tax Aide Program. Backed by the Internal Revenue Service, this year's AARP Foundation Tax-Aide program will be held throughout California and across the nation, including spots in El Cajon, La Mesa and Santee. Sites and phone numbers for appointments are as follow: El Cajon Library, 201 ...

EAST COUNTY  East County residents have some entertaining and tasty things to look forward to in 2015, including a reopened performing arts center in El Cajon, a new farmers market in Lemon Grove, an entertainment center in Santee and a new place for kids to hang out in La Mesa. El Cajon The highly anticipated 35,000-square-foot East County Performing Arts Center is set to reopen. The venue, a 1,145-seat theater built in 1977 next ...

SANTEE  With an eye on a comprehensive plan to connect trails stretching from North County down to Santee as well as protect natural habitats and sensitive species, county supervisors last week approved the purchase of 345 acres of open space for close to $5 million. Nearly 244 acres was purchased for $4 million from Elfin Acres Properties LLC in the Escondido Creek Preserve in the unincorporated area north of Harmony Grove Road and south ...

SANTEE  After a year’s hiatus, the USA Track & Field 50K Race Walk Championships are back in Santee. The event was held adjacent to Santana High School in 2012. It doubled then as the U.S. Olympic 50-kilometer race walk trials. The event moved to Coconut Creek, Fla., last year but will return to Mast Boulevard this year, starting at 7:30 a.m. Sunday. Former Olympian Philip Dunn, a North Park resident, is coordinating the event ...

SHELTER VALLEY  Two East County-based pageants are looking for teenage girls and young women from La Mesa and Santee who want an opportunity to represent their cities at community events in 2015. The Miss La Mesa and Miss Santee pageants are set for March 6. Organizers are putting out the call for females from ages 13 to 26 to participate “in a program that has been a tradition in the cities since the late ...

SANTEE  Just in time for this week’s rains, city contractors in Santee completed the first phase of improvements along Railroad and Buena Vista avenues in a neighborhood north of State Route 52 that’s been subject to chronic flooding in recent years. The project called for installing underground storm drain pipes, resurfacing asphalt pavement, and street widening in some sections. New curbs, gutters and sidewalks also were installed within certain portions of the project site. ...

EL CAJON  Six teenagers, ages 16 to 19, pleaded not guilty to murder and assault charges Wednesday in connection with attacks on two homeless men in Santee. The 16-year-old girl was charged as an adult in the death of Stephen Lee Hissom, 55. She is being held in Juvenile Hall. El Cajon Superior Court Judge Daniel Goldstein set bail at $1 million each for Danny Swan and Tyler Scott Dare, both 19; Sarah Michelle ...

SANTEE  Authorities have identified the homeless man who they say was killed in a fight with teens along a bike path in Santee Saturday as 55-year-old Stephen Lee Hissom. Sheriff's deputies arrested five adults and one juvenile on suspicion of murder in connection with the death of Hissom, said sheriff's homicide Lt. John Maryon. Another homeless victim, a 49-year-old man, suffered blunt-force injuries in the fight but declined medical attention. Those arrested included Cassidy ...

SANTEE  A fight along a bike path in Santee left one man dead, one injured and five people detained for questioning Saturday, sheriff's officials said. The fight was reported about 5:20 p.m. A deputy radioed that he found a homeless man dead on the path beneath state Route 52, south of Mission Gorge Road near Carlton Hills Boulevard. The name of the 55-year-old victim was not released. He and the other victim, age 49, ...

SANTEE  The city of Santee is nearly three-quarters of the way done with a $25 million project to revitalize the industrial zone next to Gillespie Field, which sits at the crossroads of El Cajon and Santee. The latest plan regarding the Prospect Avenue Corridor Enhancement is the relocation of the traffic signal at Prospect and Cottonwood avenues. That work began Monday and is requiring that motorists be cautious at that intersection for the next ...

SANTEE  Three men suspected in a stabbing assault outside a Santee Walmart store this month are in custody, a sheriff’s official said Friday. Roady Briley, 29, Randy Briley, 24, and Kevin Cave, 24, were arrested Thursday ﻿at Lilac Oaks Campground in Valley Center, where they had been hiding since the attack, sheriff’s Sgt. Joel Stranger said. About 8 p.m. Nov. 9, the 20-year-old victim was stabbed five times in the back and his backpack ...

EL CAJON  A fugitive parolee wanted on auto theft and assault charges led law officers on a pursuit out of El Cajon and hit two other vehicles before he was stopped in Santee Wednesday, police said. El Cajon detectives looking for the 34-year-old man as a suspect in a stabbing joined forces with a countywide fugitive task force that had a warrant for his arrest on auto theft charges, El Cajon police Sgt. Rich ...

In early October, an explosion inside a recreational vehicle parked at the campground at Santee Lakes left a young married couple badly burned. James and Carmen Ruelas, new residents at the Lakeshore Camping Loop who had been married for just over a year, were trying to bake a pizza in their oven when propane exploded. James, engulfed in flames, was hurtled out of the RV. Carmen also was set on fire. Dylan Perkins, a Navy ...